Today was another quiet day. This morning, Rebecca pulled out a sign that was made for Mom on her 60th birthday five days shy of two years ago. For her 60th birthday, we all surprised her by showing up at my brother’s house in Portland. We spent the evening together and Mom wrote in her journal that day that it was the best birthday of her life. She loved the occasion so much that she put together a scrapbook just about that weekend. Rebecca read to her from that book and showed her the pictures.

We watched music & the spoken word this morning, which was especially meaningful to us today. They sang Rebecca’s favorite song, which was very beautiful. She told us that David Warner wrote the words, which makes it even more poignant.

One of the things we’ve been doing is going through some of Mom’s old journals. We found one from when she was a young mom and my sisters have been happy to see that Mom struggled with the same things they struggle with. It gave them hope knowing that Mom had the same difficulties they have and that she still turned out as wonderfully as she did. One thing that Rebecca also commented on was that one thing she really admired in Mom was that she never stopped improving herself. That, too, gives her hope.

This afternoon, we sang a hymn and administered the sacrament. It was a special experience to do that service for Mom. Afterwards, we had a little testimony meeting, kind of like we used to have when we were kids. It was good to share a few words with each other about our gratitude for Mom and our testimonies that she helped to instill in us.

We were imagining what it will be like when Mom gets to the other side and is greeted by all those Hungarian ancestors that she’s done temple work for and how they’ll all want to give her a hug. We then wondered what the Hungarian word for “hug”, so Angie went and grabbed Mom’s Hungarian dictionary. She said, “Hungarians must be a very loving people, because they have 4 words for different kinds of hugs!” I’m sure she’ll get all 4 kinds when she is greeted.

Rebecca went out and cut a small branch from the peach tree to show Mom and let her smell the blossoms. It was very beautiful, so we put it in a little vase next to her bed.

Louise (one of Mom’s life-long friends) sent Dad a letter that Mom had sent to her about five years ago. Dad read it to us; it was about the role of mother and Mom’s decision to be a Mom instead of pursuing a career. She was told by a high school teacher that she was throwing away her career by choosing to go to BYU instead of a place like Stanford. She knew she wanted to go to a place that put as much emphasis on gospel learning as it did secular learning. She also knew she wanted to learn all she could so that she could be a better mother. She said in the letter that she firmly believes that the best contribution anyone can make to this world is not a successful career or big paycheck, but raising a new and strong generation. She dedicated her life to doing just that: raising a righteous family.

Mom’s breathing gets a little weaker each day. She’s starting to sound a little congested. Jason is going to join us by taking a watch tonight and stay up with her.